route, but in seeking Smain must have turned considerably
towards the south. He recollected that on the sixth day they crossed a
river which was not the Nile, and that afterwards, before the country
began to rise, they rode around great swamps. At school in Port Said,
the geography of Africa was taught very thoroughly and in Stas' memory
remained the name of Ballor, designating an expansion of the
little-known river Sobat, a tributary of the Nile. He was not indeed
certain whether they had passed that expansion, but assumed that they
had. It occurred to him that Smain, desiring to capture slaves, could
not seek for them directly west of Fashoda, as that country was already
entirely depopulated by dervishes and small-pox; but that he would have
to go to localities which heretofore were not visited by an expedition.
Stas deduced from this that they were following Smain's trail, and the
thought frightened him in the first moments.

He therefore reflected whether it would not be better to abandon the
ravine which turned more and more plainly towards the south and go
directly eastward. But after a moment's consideration he relinquished
the plan. On the contrary, to follow the tracks of Smain's band at two
or three days' distance appeared to him to be the safest course as it
was very improbable that Smain would return with his human wares by way
of the same circuitous route instead of making his way directly for the
Nile. Stas understood also that Abyssinia could be reached only from
the southern side where that country borders on a great wilderness and
not from the eastern boundary which was carefully guarded by dervishes.

As a result of these thoughts he determined to venture as far as
possible towards the south. They might encounter negroes, either
refugees from the banks of the White Nile or natives. But of the two
evils Stas preferred to have dealings with the blacks rather than with
Mahdists. He reckoned too that in the event of meeting refugees or
natives Kali and Mea might prove useful. It was enough to glance at the
young negress to surmise that she belonged to the Dinka or Shilluk
tribe, for she had uncommonly long and thin limbs, so characteristic of
both of those tribes, dwelling on the banks of the Nile and wading like
cranes and storks, during its inundation. Kali, on the other hand,
though under Gebhr's hand he became like a skeleton, had an entirely
different stature. He was short and thick and strongly buil